Walker, Pugh Among 2026 Turkey Hall of Fame Inductees

Walker’s father was what modern day hunters would call old school. He was extremely patient and called very little, compared to the run and gun tactics of many hunters these days.

“He would cut a couple of times and then yelp a couple of times, like Jimmy Bedwell (guide at Bent Creek),” Walker said. “He’d look at his watch, and, 15 minutes later, he would do it again. My ribs would end up bruised from him elbowing me, telling me to be still.”

Walker, who was a regular guest on Mossy Oak’s Turkey Thugs TV show, continued to pursue turkeys through his college days, and his skill level had increased significantly.

“I got what I would call pretty decent,” he said. “I wasn’t perfect, but I loved it. Through some friends, I met Johnny and Leo at Bent Creek Lodge, and I was their first turkey guide. When you’re going every day with somebody who is paying money, it makes you think and work a little harder. There are plenty of good turkey hunters who can kill turkeys. I was just blessed to be at the right place at the right time.”

Pugh, the former Director of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, retired in 2011 after a 35-year career with the State of Alabama. Like Walker, he had no idea he was under consideration for induction into the Hall.

“I was deeply humbled and felt like I was standing on the shoulders of giants,” Pugh said. “When Doug Max and Alan White broke the news to me that I was being inducted into the Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame on Alan’s radio show, I was totally blown away. I told them then that I was very undeserving, and I’m not in the same league with most of those folks. It was a real honor, and I’m very humbled.”

Pugh started his turkey hunting career at the ripe old age of 4 when a couple of friends of his parents let him tag along on a hunt in Monroe County.

“Buck Rhodes and Preacher Springer borrowed me from my parents and took me to my Aunt Virgie’s place to turkey hunt,” said Pugh, who has hunted the same tract of land in Tallapoosa County for the last half century. “I’m sure they took me with them to gain access to her land, which is perfectly understandable, and it’s a shame more people don’t do that now. I remember stumbling along in the dark behind them. I was holding onto the back of Mr. Buck’s belt so they wouldn’t lose me in the dark. I remember stopping on a gravelly longleaf pine hillside. One of them owled with his voice, and I remember them saying they heard a turkey gobble. I was too little to know what to even listen for.

“A year later, another one of my parents’ friends, Troy Hall, took me late one afternoon to north Monroe County. We stopped at a deep sandy spot in the road and he showed me gobbler tracks. Then he owled, and a turkey gobbled from the roost. That’s what got me started in turkey hunting, and it’s been a lifelong passion.”

The Hall of Fame labeled Pugh as “The Working Man’s Director,” a title he gladly relishes. 

“I’m proud of that,” said Pugh, who finished a book earlier this year on chasing wild turkeys, titled Turkey Tactics, A Guide to Tactical Turkey Hunting (www.turkeyhuntingtactics.com). “Every hunter is important, whether they’re rich, poor, blue collar or white collar; they’re all important.”

As for the World Championship Turkey Calling Contest, which attracted callers from around the nation, Alabama callers prevailed in numerous categories.

Jared Lowe of Gadsden was crowned the overall World Open Champion. Russell Andrews of Tuscaloosa won the World Gobbling Championship for the second year in a row, and Michael Strawn of Aliceville repeated as the World Championship Friction Calling Champion. 

Kaleb Payton of Kentucky prevailed in the Owling World Championship, while Kenny Weiss Jr. of Mobile and Tyler Presley of Front Royal, Virginia, teamed up to claim the Team Challenge title.

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